by M. L. Briers
Tammy looked down at the tree on the ground and sighed. She’d tangled with that thing one too many times already. She turned on her heels and stalked back into the cabin.
Whatever had happened – She guessed she’d just miffed off the only other person on the damn mountain.
Merry damn Christmas and bah humbug.
CHAPTER THREE
~
Aidan had tried to stay away from her land. Hell, he’d even walked the long away around her cabin just in case he ran into her while she was out doing whatever lone females did in the snow and the woods.
But then he’d find himself right back near her cabin again and it gnawed at him that he was so damn weak for company that he’d stalk a damn woman just for a sense of being close to someone again. Being part of a community.
He liked being alone, but he missed human contact.
His bear was normally happy being solitary, but even the beast within him was getting antsy. He had to wonder if the bear just wanted the cookies that she’d promised…
No, that wasn’t it. His bear was like him – it had a sweet tooth, but the cookies that he craved weren’t the eating kind. He grinned at the thought of nipping on her naked body as he rolled her beneath him… spread her out on his bed and tasted her skin, tasted her sex…
He groaned at the feel of his cock, achingly hard and as close to steel as a man had a right to be. He thought he’d taken care of that problem last night when he was lying naked on his bed and all he could see was her eyes, her lips… and then again twice this morning – once when he’d woken from a dream of her, and once in the damn shower – obviously not.
He’d been too long without a soft woman’s body pressed against his.
He’d gone too long without the taste of lips against his.
He’d gone too long without burying his cock inside the wet heat of a woman…
Damn… he cursed as his cock twitched and demanded to be released from his jeans. He’d take the damn thing in his hand and relieve the pressure in his balls again if he wasn’t standing in the woods near her cabin. He couldn’t exactly jerk off there now, could he?
The sound of the cabin door squeaking open on cold hinges made him snap his attention back to what was important. Spilling his seed and reliving his balls was not on the top of his wish list then… she was… seeing her, and there she was – all bundled up in her winter clothes and stepping out into the frosty air…
A low growl rumbled through his chest and her head came about towards him, her eyes questioning, searching. He pulled back a little into the camouflage of the thick tree trunks and hoped to hell that he wasn’t sticking out like a sore thumb.
She turned back, looking down at that damn stupid tree that hadn’t moved since she’d fallen on it. He’d been an idiot – he should have taken it inside for her no matter what she’d said, and then he should have left…
He heard her groan as she stared down at it. She kicked out at the fresh snow and sent it flying in the air, covering the tree in even more of the frosty white coating.
The woman had a temper…
He watched her shoulders slump, and then her head came up – her shoulders went back, and she gave one emphatic nod before she set off into the winter wonderland.
That was it. That was his chance to correct a wrong and do what he should have done.
He waited until she’d disappeared from sight before he snuck – not that he could really sneak with the size of him – across the open space between the cabin and the trees. He moved fast, snatched up the tree and shook the fresh snow from its branches. Then he turned towards the cabin.
She might not like it, but he was going to plant that damn tree in a bucket, and then that guilty feeling that seemed lodged in the pit of his stomach might just go away and he could get on with his not-really-a-life – life.
~
~
~
Tammy hadn’t been able to shake that feeling within her for a while now… doom – dread – like something was about to happen – or maybe like she’d forgotten to do something – and it needed to be urgently corrected…
That was all well and good and she could do that, in fact, to stop the butterfly feeling fluttering within her stomach like nerves, she’d kind of like to get to it, get it done, and then get over it as soon as possible.
The only trouble with that was… she didn’t know what it was.
Now she was freezing her damn backside off trying to walk those feelings away. Last night it had been pacing – she’d paced – she’d sat for five minutes – then she’d paced all over again.
It was so damn annoying now that she wanted to claw out her insides just to make it all stop.
Hell, she was walking – like real exercise with her legs moving and her heart pumping and everything. She was sucking in large amounts of pure oxygenated frosty air… how alien was that?
It didn’t help any.
Her mind kept wandering back to that stupid confrontation with her maybe-neighbour.
If the man ever darkened her doorstep again she was going to bop him over the head with a plate of damn cookies.
She felt guilty, and she wasn’t sure why.
She felt antsy and just at sixes and sevens, and she hated every damn second of it.
She had a good mind to kick the oaf in the shin just for unsettling her sterile world of aloneness. Bop him on the nose… of course, she’d need her step ladder to reach that high…
She stomped on every step that she took back towards the cabin.
She was cold, restless, and miffed off.
She tossed open the front door and kicked the snow from her boots before she stepped back into the blessed warmth of the cabin… and pulled up short as her eyes took him in…
“What the hell…?” She shrieked out and saw him winced like he was in physical pain…
“I can explain.” His giant hands came up to his chest in a form of surrender. His eyes were wide as if she’d startled him just as much as he’d startled her. And then there was that look of sheepishness on his face as she narrowed her eyes on him…
But it was still kind of hard, even with the size of the man, to miss the giant pine tree that was stretched out behind him…
“My tree!” She almost sighed at the sight of it.
Aidan’s eyes rolled in his head as he remembered the reason that he was there… He wasn’t stalky bear… he wasn’t Santa Paws caught sneaking down the chimney… and he quickly sidestepped the tree and let her feast her eyes on it…
“I felt bad.” Aidan muttered.
He liked the look in her eyes. They were practically glowing with happiness – like a small sense of peaceful accomplishment had settled in them.
Then her eyes flicked to him and she straightened, drew herself up to her full height, which was still a good foot shorter than his, and took a long, calming breath in…
He waited for her to berate him.
“I owe you cookies.” She announced and his bear rumbled a low growl inside of him – just as his stomach did the same. Her eyes narrowed a little and he pointed at his gut.
“Hungry. I swear I didn’t growl.” He gave a small shake of his head. He knew that she didn’t like it when he growled – that had been what had upset her before.
“Then cookies is it.” She announced, tossing the front door closed behind her and stalking towards the kitchen as she yanked off layer after layer of outdoor clothing…
Aidan stood there for a long moment, somewhat confused. She’d not wanted him in her house before and now she seemed… almost normal about it.
He didn’t know whether he was supposed to follow on behind her or stay where he was. He didn’t want to upset her again.
He questioned if maybe he should just turn around and leave.
Now that the tree was up; he wouldn’t feel so badly anymore and she wasn’t mad at him… He didn’t want that to change.
He liked being in her cabin. It smelled real nice.
/>
It scented of baking and spices, and female. Her. It scented like her and he liked that smell maybe more than he liked the scent of her cooking.
“Cookies as promised.” She appeared at the kitchen doorway holding up a white china plate with the biggest cookies he’d ever seen in his life.
His stomach growled.
His bear growled.
He growled…
CHAPTER FOUR
~
“Wow, really hungry.” Tammy offered with a small chuckle as he eyed her to see if she’d noticed.
“Really, really hungry.” Aidan nodded to cover his need to grin with the knowledge of getting that growl out undetected.
“Coffee – tea – milk?” Or me? She thought, and then jerked to awareness of what she’d just thought.
Sure the guy was super sexy, but he was off limits.
For one, he was a neighbour, maybe her only neighbour, and you didn’t poop where you lived.
Two, he was a loner and lived on the mountain, she wasn’t there forever.
And three, he was a shifter, and she wasn’t sure how that worked, exactly… oh, she knew that they had the same bits and pieces that everyone else had, but she’d heard about the fangs and the biting…
She’d never had a thing for vampire stories so she didn’t think she was into the whole bity fang scene. She’d leave that to the shifter groupies.
“Yes.” He nodded, and for one long moment, both of them stared almost blankly at the other as if neither of them knew what they’d been talking about… then she snapped back to reality.
“Which?” She asked and he frowned.
“Witch?” He looked even more confused.
“Coffee – tea – or me? Milk! I mean milk!” She snapped out, eyes wide, cheeks filling with heat, and as dry as a bone with thirst for any damn thing that she could guzzle down…
For one long, horrible moment he just stared at her. He twisted his head on his neck and his eyes narrowed to little slits… she wanted the ground to open up and swallow her whole…
Then he tossed his head back on his neck and roared with laughter, and it was a roar… and then she wanted to rake the earth back over her body and stay in that little hole forever…
~
~
~
Tammy eyed him over the table top and two cups of coffee that created the divide between them. The kitchen was warm, but boy was she warmed from the inside out.
She was certain that her cheeks were still flushed and that glowing was probably as bright as a beacon on a dark night. She’s messed up big time, and the worst thing was – he’d laughed right in her face, well, not right in her face, but as good as.
Of course she wasn’t a bear magnet. She’d seen the kind of women that were called bear groupies, with their big breasts, their curvy hips, their over inflated backsides, and their shiny manes of hair on their stupid heads.
That wasn’t her.
For one thing her breasts weren’t forced inside a scaffolding bra, they were hand sized and bouncy, not made of silicone or whatever the hell they put in those puppies nowadays.
Her hips were curvy, but not like Jessica Rabbits. And if someone dared to slap her backside in the heat of passion – it might have bounced a little, but it wasn’t going to endlessly ripple like waves crashing on the beach.
Nope, she hadn’t been stuffed, overinflated or pumped up in any way shape or form, and if men didn’t like that then she didn’t care. If he didn’t like that then she didn’t care…
Only she kind of did. It kind of hurt that he’d laughed at her.
Not only did she feel stupid – she felt deflated… in body, mind, and soul.
It wasn’t as if she wanted to have an affair with the man. She didn’t even want a night with him… well, maybe one wouldn’t hurt, but the fact that he’d rejected her in such a callous manner stung her pride.
Now they were facing each other in silence… awkward.
“Have another cookie.” She put the tip of her finger against the edge of the plate and pushed it towards him.
His hand shot out and he snatched one up, but he didn’t put it to his lips, just sat there holding it – as if he didn’t know what to do with it now that he had it.
“About what you said…” Aidan twisted his head on his neck and stared at her, but she wouldn’t meet his eyes.
Damn, he really wanted her to look at him again. He kind of missed seeing her eyes. They were pretty, expressive… really damn expressive when she’d practically offered herself to him on a platter along with the cookies and coffee…
Aidan felt his cock twitch again – it hadn’t stopped since she’d walked back into the house. His length wanted her bouncing up and down on it – hell, he wanted her bouncing up and down on his length, and he guessed that she had those exact same feelings otherwise why would she have said it… even as a slip of the tongue?
He had the urge to stand up, reach over the table for her, lift her to him and spread her body out across that table top. Damn, did he?
He would have given anything in that moment to be thrusting deep inside of her channel… He felt the need to growl roll through him and he bit down hard on it.
His bear was getting more and more antsy. It had started to claw at his psyche, urge him on.
Fighting and sex kept his bear on an even keel and he hadn’t been doing either in a very long time. Taking himself in hand hadn’t been working much of those kinks out of him lately.
He knew his bear was starting to pine for a mate. A family.
He also knew that they stood little chance at having either while they lived up on the mountain in the middle of nowhere.
Not unless he took the old widow Rawlins for a mate, and she certainly wasn’t spring chicken enough to give him cubs, but Tammy… Tammy could give him cubs – if the spirits were willing to bless them with offspring.
Aidan berated himself for that thought.
He should have cubs with his mate if he was ever lucky enough to find her. What if he took Tammy as his and then found his true mate?
No, that would be bad.
That would be wrong.
A female that he imprinted himself on was for life, and he couldn’t have two… well… no, one true mate.
Aidan pushed up in his chair, the backs of his knees forced the wooden legs to scrape against the tiled floor, and he winced at the sound of claws down a chalkboard…
He saw her eyes widen… then he realised why. He’d stood up but she hadn’t looked up, and know she was staring right at the bulge of his rigid cock as it stretched the fabric of his jeans…
Aidan growled out a groan of shame…
Her head snapped back and her eyes shot up to meet his.
He saw the fire there, saw her nostrils flare.
He watched as she caught her breath…
Her chest rose and fell like she just couldn’t drag in enough oxygen.
Crap!
Then her eyes snapped back down to the ridge of his cock, and she did the one thing that she should never have done…
She licked her dry lips.
CHAPTER FIVE
~
Aidan went to walk forward. His upper thighs hit the hard wood of the table and he growled in annoyance.
He almost reached out and tossed the table aside in order to get to her. Instead, he moved fast, skirting around the edge of the table and reached down to wrap his hands around her upper arms.
Then he yanked her up out of her seat to the sound of her gulping in a giant breath.
“Aidan…” She breathed out his name and he didn’t wait to question her tone of voice or listen to the rest of that sentence. He couldn’t afford to – what if she was going to deny him the taste of those lips?
He brought his lips down on hers. Heat rushed through his body – the kind of heat you couldn’t find in a log fire or a hot bath. He burned from the outside in with a fever that swept through him and sparked a million other feelings and
sensations…
Aidan wrapped a muscled arm around her waist and hauled her body against his. The feel of her soft breasts against the hard muscles of his chest made him growl harder…
He wanted her.
With every damn fibre of his being he wanted to be buried inside of her…
There was no denying his lust, his desire to have her.
There was no denying the need that clawed within him…
And there was no denying his bear’s reaction to the woman either…
Mine.
~
~
~
There were numerous things that Tammy knew for certain in this life – like water was wet. The sun was hot. Sugar was good in a bad kind of a way, and that the earth didn’t move beneath your feet, rainbows didn’t appear, and your head didn’t spin when you kissed a guy…
Except she was wrong. Everything that she knew to be true to date had been snatched from her the moment that his hot lips came down on hers, because the earth did move beneath her feet, rainbows did appear against the closed lids of her eyes, and her head was spinning wildly…
Go figure.
Did that mean that he was the one?
Did that mean that she was having an episode… maybe an aneurism…?
Or did that mean that she was freaking the hell out and this was the consequences of her total psychosis?
She wasn’t sure.
She couldn’t tell – how could she? He was still kissing her, and kissing her was an understatement…
He was devouring her like she could devour her favourite ice cream. Like she could eat her favourite chocolate cake with cream and strawberry filling. Like she could eat – chocolate – at that time of the month.
His tongue swirled and claimed hers.
It was as if he was trying to fight it into submission, the only problem with that was that she didn’t have one thought in her head about being submissive right then. Nooo, right then she wanted to fight back, taste him, beat him at his own game, like her very life depended on it.